Footing for towers



March 31, 1936. H. o. HrLL FOOTING FOR TOWERS Filed April 19, 1933 Patented Mar. 31, 1936 PATENT OFFICE FOOTING FOR TOWERS Harold 0. Hill, Bethlehem, Pa., assignor to McClintic-Marshall Corporation, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 19, 1933, Serial No. 666,878

4 Claims.

poles, towers, and the like and is particularly adaptable for footings or anchors for structural steel towers of the character employed for power transmission lines.

It is well known that towers of this type are subjected to considerable loads, due to the weight of the towers themselves and the weight of the wires, etc. Towers of this type are also subjected to considerable overturning forces which are set up by the unbalanced line pulls and wind forces. Therefore towers of this type must be supported on footings which will resist the tendency on the part of the towers to be affected by the aforemen tioned conditions.

Heretofore it has been customary to construct transmission tower footings by building up a grillage composed of spaced angles, I-beams, tie sections, Z-bars or trough-shaped sections. All of these footings have the disadvantage that they have not a uniformly fiat bearing surface against the soil and therefore settlement takes place as these various members are compacted into the soil. This affects the position of the tower or other structure supported thereon and therefore changes the elevation thereof. They also have the disadvantage that there are openings between each member of the grillage which permits the footings to cut through the back-fill until it has been in place a sufficient length of time to become thoroughly compacted.

It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide footing or anchorage members having a substantially flat bearing surface which will distribute the thrust resulting from the aforementioned loads over considerable area.

Another object of my invention is to provide a footing or anchorage which is very rigid in construction and which is so constructed that it will minimize the cost of labor in assembly and installation in the shops and in the field.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a footing or anchorage which is so designed that the back filling material can be properly tamped at all points above the anchorage so as to obtain a firm anchorage.

The novel features of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description and claims taken with the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of my improved tower footing or anchorage. 6

Fig. 2 is a part elevation and part sectional view, the section being taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

My invention relates to footings or anchors for r Fig. 3 is an elevation of a modified tower footing or anchorage embodying my invention.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, l5 designates my improved tower footing or anchor- 5 age which comprises a substantially flat plate member 16. The outer edges of the plate member l6 are preferably formed and bent up as shown in the drawing to provide flanges I! so as to strengthen the footing member at its edges and 10 also to provide an enclosed receptacle. Transverse ribs l8 are provided to reinforce the footing and also to provide means for attachment of the stub angle IS. The ribs l8 are shown extending diagonally across the plate with their outer ends terminating adjacent the corners of the plates at the junction of the ends of the flanges H, with the flanges and the ribs joined by a common weld 2|. The ribs H! are shown welded to the plate member l6 by a series of tack 20 welds 22 and at their intersection by angular welds which add additional strength to the structure. This produces a footing or anchorage composed of a base divided into a series of triangular sections, each of which has upstanding flanges on 25 all sides thereof. This construction produces a very stiff base and in addition provides reinforced members to which the tower leg 24 may be attached either directly or through the medium of the stub angle 19, by suitable fastening means such as the bolts 26.

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing, I show a modified construction of footing or anchorage 3U embodying my invention. The base 3| of this structure is similar to the structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2 except that certain of the flanges are bent inwardly so as to lie in substantially the same vertical plane as the stub angle members 32, which are shown attached thereto. This type of footing is useful where it is desired to employ a plurality of stub angles to support the leg 33 of a structure, as the lower ends of the stub angles 32 can be readily attached to the flanges 34. Ribs 35 which are similar to the ribs I8 are provided to strengthen the base member 3|. 5

Holes 31 are preferably provided in the base members to permit water to drain therethrough.

From the above it will be evident that I have invented an improved footing .or anchorage for a tower or the like which may be assembled complete in the shops and shipped to the field in one piece ready for the attachment of the stub angles. This eliminates the expense of handling the various parts, such as the grillage members; the transverse members and other parts necessary for attaching these members together, both during shipment and in the field.

While I have shown my invention in a plurality of forms it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A footing for a tower and the like comprising a substantially flat plate base member having its marginal edges bent upwardly and constituting flanges having their adjacent ends in spaced relation, a strengthening rib for said base member having one of its ends terminating adjacent the adjacent ends of a pair of the flanges and a common Weld uniting the pair of flanges and said rib.

2. A footing for towers and the like comprising a rectangular sheet metal base and stub or leg attaching means mounted on and secured to said base, said base comprising a substantially plane bottom member having integral upstanding flanges at its outer edges, the end of the flanges terminating adjacent the corners of the base, and the attaching means comprising ribs extending diagonally of said plate and welded thereto and having their outer ends terminating at the junction of the ends of said flanges, and a common weld for uniting the ribs to the adjacent ends of the flanges and the adjacent ends of the flanges to each other.

3. A footing for a tower structure or the like comprising a plate member having its edges bent upwardly and inwardly to constitute flanges and a plurality of stub angles connected to said flanges.

4. A footing for a tower structure comprising a sheet metal base member having its edges bent upwardly and inwardly to constitute inwardly directed flanges and a plurality of angularly disposed stub angles connected to said flanges said stub angles each having a face disposed in substantially the same plane as the inwardly directed flange to which it is connected.

HAROLD O. HILL. 

